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Returning just in time to celebrate this milestone - thanks for all the views since I've been gone!

Hi again all...

I disappeared for a little while basically due to life being life.

No promises that I'm entirely back, but I have plans for 2018 that I aim to see through - I've got YouTube plans, Blog plans, job plans, uni plans - all the plans (hopefully if I make enough plans I'll actually finish some of them so that I feel at least slightly successful!)

I bought the domain for a second blog as well, where I'll post more personal things. For this blog, I want to maintain the same kind of articles I've written in the past, as they're my favourite kind to write.

Stay tuned.

FYI, you can now Follow my blog with Bloglovin - it's a great place to find and follow new blogs, as well as keep up-to-date with your favourites.

This year, according to Forbes list of highest paid
athletes, Floyd Mayweather’s earnings from both his salary and sponsors will be
$300 million. Messi will earn $73.8 million, Federer $67 million, Hamilton $39
million and Bolt $21 million. All of these men are unbelievable athletes who
put in, and have put in, hours of hard work and dedication to become some of
the best in their respective sports, but do they really deserve or need that
much money for what they’ve achieved?

If we compare Mayweather’s salary, $285 million, to the
salary of an average London tube driver, $76,000, or to an average NHS doctor,
$107,075, or to an average police officer in the UK, $40,502, then we
definitely see a massive inequality. But these statistics aren’t the whole
story, considering Mayweather is not an ‘average’ boxer, he’s regarded as the
best – hence the pay, so comparing him to the ‘average’ of other jobs seems
unfair. If we instead compare him to the best/most highly paid of the same
three jobs; $92,673, $156,696 and $83,210 respectively, then we get a more fair
perspective on the salary differences. Per year, for beating someone up in a ring,
which he barely does anyway with such a defensive game, and for all his
training and hard work, Mayweather’s salary is 1,819 times that of the most
highly paid doctors in the UK.

Returning to the average salaries for a moment, the average
weekly pay in the Premier League is £25,000 per week, which means the average
salary is around £1,050,000 when you take the length of the league and off
season pay into account. A highly paid NHS doctor earns £69,325 per year – less
than the footballer makes in 3 weeks.

So the question that needs to be answered before we can
decide whether athletes deserve their high rates of pay is ‘what is worth
paying for?’

Let’s assume pay is based on how hard people work;
Mayweather is renowned for being an unbelievably hard worker – commentators on
boxing suggest it is this factor which has kept him at the top for so long.
According to his training, he trains between 8-10 hours a day on the weeks
leading up to a fight, slightly less when just training normally, but it must
be said the actual training he does looks disgustingly difficult for the mere
mortal – he definitely works incredibly hard. Similarly, the average GP will work
a 9-10 hour working day, however the work does not appear quite as physically
strenuous as Floyd’s training. From this it might be plausible to argue that an
athlete may deserve a high rate of pay because of how hard they have to work to
be in their positions.

If we follow this line of debate however and presume that
athletes have exceptional workloads, the argument fails when you compare
athletes’ pay to each other’s. Both Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are
number 1 for women’s and men’s tennis, yet Djokovic brings in $48.2 million a
year while Williams only gets $24.6 million. Both players have a large point
margin over second place, and it’s safe to assume that they have similar
training regimes being tennis players, and yet Djokovic earns more than $20
million more – how is this fair? Similarly, as Djokovic is number 1 in tennis
we can compare him to the number 1 in a different sport such as athletics;
Bolt, despite a horrendously tough training regime, earns a measly $21 million
– all of that money comes from sponsorships as his salary is absolute $0,
whereas Djokovic’s salary comes to $17.2 million. As someone who has done
sprinting training at a BUCS level, and loves playing tennis too, I can
honestly tell you that athletics training is brutal on the body. So if we’re
suggesting that they deserve their pay because of how hard they work, there
needs to be a severe overhaul of which sports get the highest pay.

We can’t even remedy this issue based on how good they are
at their jobs – if people are paid fairly based on how good they are at their
individual jobs, then the top in every sport should be paid similarly, as
should the average, as should those in non-sport jobs.

If we instead base the pay on how important they are for
society as a whole, the debate becomes a little more heated and convoluted. It
can be argued that professional sport has a positive impact on society;
sportspeople, who aren’t getting in trouble all the time, can be regarded as
good role models; sports events are good for local economies, pubs putting on
matches for example, as well as for simply giving people something to look forward
to and to socialise around; they provide a window in which we can define morals
and ethics to all of society, bettering issues of racism, sexism, homophobia
and the likes. It would be foolish to argue that professional sports are
completely useless to society.

However, doctors save lives on a daily basis, rubbish
collectors ensure we have clean streets – if they go on strike at any point
then we’ll all be screwed, police ensure we have a society in which we can feel
safe, even politicians do important work for society sometimes. It might also
be foolish then to suggest that professional sports are 1,819 times more
important for society than those who make society work outside of sports, and
allow for a society in which professional sports can exist.

If this article was written in a country like
Brazil, the salaries of important figures that make society work would be
vastly lower, and the issue would be far greater. Athletes are exceptional in
their respective sports, and if we as a society regard sports as being worth
paying for, then they deserve pay. However, personally, I can’t see any reason
why some athletes will earn more from sponsorships and endorsements, like
appearing in a few Gillette adverts on TV, in one year than the majority of
people will earn in their lifetime – similarly with their salaries, the average
footballer in the Premier League has worked hard to be in their position, but
£25,000 per week hard..? That’s far more debatable.

To put it briefly, the campaign was a massive success.
September this year saw this statement put out on the LLSB website:

Following talks that have taken place over the last three months, Long Live Southbank and Southbank Centre are delighted to have reached an agreement that secures the Queen Elizabeth Hall undercroft as the long-term home of British skateboarding and the other urban activities for which it is famous.

The agreement has been formalised in a binding planning agreement with Lambeth Council. In the agreement, Southbank Centre agrees to keep the undercroft open for use without charge for skateboarding, BMX riding, street writing and other urban activities.

On the basis of the protections secured by the planning agreement, Southbank Centre and Long Live Southbank have withdrawn their respective legal actions in relation to the undercroft. These include Southbank Centre’s challenge to the registration of the undercroft as an asset of community value, Long Live Southbank’s application for village green status for the undercroft, and a judicial review of Lambeth Council’s decision to reject the village green application.

Long Live Southbank is pleased to support Southbank Centre’s Festival Wing project for the improvement of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery, on the basis that the plans will now no longer include any redevelopment within the skate area of the Queen Elizabeth Hall undercroft.

Cllr Lib Peck, Leader of Lambeth Council said; “I’m pleased that Lambeth Council was able to work with both sides and find an imaginative solution to resolve this. Shared public space in London is precious and Southbank Centre is a great asset to the country’s cultural life. This agreement is a sensible way of protecting both and we can all now look forward.”

To me, this appears to be an agreement based wholly on
LLSB’s terms, which were, in my opinion, the only acceptable terms to agree on.
The lack of compromise displays the triumph of the campaign; had there been,
for example, a clause suggesting we would have to pay for entry to undercroft,
or that street art was no longer permitted, or any other limitations or
exclusions, the extent of its success would be capped.

The organisation and leadership of the campaign must be
applauded for professionally and effectively directing LLSB, as without them
this success wouldn’t have been possible. It is easy to see campaigns such as
the ‘Occupy’ movement falter with a lack of effective organisation and
direction, remaining in history as idealistic movements with no real success or
solidification. LLSB’s leadership never lost sight of the target, thus effectively
mobilised the membership in the right direction, displaying the professionalism
of an interest group far more established.

In addition to this, the campaign was professional in
regards to its media and PR. Having watched plenty of the LLSB videos on YouTube,
purchased LLSB merchandise from the website and followed the Facebook and
Twitter, I for one commend those who played a role in all of these areas. The
videos are of a high standard, and gave a sense of legitimacy to the campaign,
as did the posts on social media, which displayed utmost decorum; perfect for
PR. Even the merchandise was of satisfactory quality; the whole production of
LLSB was enough to give it a high level of legitimacy.

Long Live
Skateboarding.

So, less brown-nosing of the LLSB campaign, more ranting.

In May this year, Norwich City Council proposed a ban on
skateboarding in the city centre, vilifying those who take part in the pursuit,
claiming that it causes extensive damage to public property and is a
‘nuisance’.

Their ignorance amazes me.

Firstly, whether skateboarding is a hobby, an interest, a
way of life or whatever for those who do it, it is always an expression of
oneself, and a source of fun for more than 11 million people worldwide. It is
certainly not an example of ‘anti-social behaviour’. If anything, it is the
total opposite; skateboarding, as with other pursuits, brings people together
and gives people the opportunity to socialise, make friends who share their
passion, and progress with their art together. It does not endanger the general
public (barring any horrifically unfortunate, unlikely events), and does not
aim to do so; skaters tend to want to enjoy skating, not causing havoc.

Secondly, skateboarding does not misuse public property. The
term ‘public property’ directly implies that property is owned by the people,
thus the people have the option to utilise it as they so please. For example, the
existence of a rail does not have an explicit suggestion that it must be used
as an aid for people to walk up a staircase, in fact people may wish to slide
down rails on their backsides, or balance on it for the purposes of parkour, or
ultimately grind on it with their skateboards. It takes those with creativity
to see the rail as more than just the stair-climbing aid it was designed as; why
should we perceive creativity as a criminal offence? (So long as it doesn’t actually
hurt people, of course). Can it not be said that creativity is what gives us an
interesting, diverse society? Banning skateboarding because it scratches a park
bench or a rail outside a shop or a ledge on a bed of flowers is a gross
overreaction. Any possible minor damages to such are a small price to pay to
have a community of people both young and old enjoying the same pastime
together. In fact, the art of skateboarding attracts far more viewers than any
railing would on its own; the amount of times I’ve seen crowds of people
watching as skaters utilise public property in an interesting way certainly
evidences this. Not everyone is like this guy:

And that’s pretty much how Norwich City Council looks to me.
As if they’re saying ‘SKATEBOARDING IS BAD BECAUSE IT JUST IS SO THERE’, as if
participating in a primary school playground argument.

Leading on from this, my final point. Skateboarding is the
total opposite of a nuisance, as I think has already been implied in this
article. It is a well-respected, established sport with a huge following. One
of the leading arguments I made for the LLSB campaign was that undercroft is a
cultural hub for thousands of people; skateboarding itself is that culture. It
adds to a diverse society of interests, allowing for people to see the world as
they want to see it. But more practically than that, it’s a well-known
expression used by officials that they wish to ‘keep young people occupied’ and
stop them from ‘hanging around on street corners’ and the likes; in order to
have a mobilised, occupied youth, there has to be the opportunity for young
people to actually enjoy themselves and do things to pass the time, and
skateboarding is certainly one of them. By taking away more and more pastimes
for young people, you leave them with less and less options for enjoyment. So rather
than seeing it as a nuisance, see it as a great way of giving young people an
opportunity to enjoy themselves, and a way to educate people in the importance
of being able to have fun, or in the importance of bettering themselves in
whichever pursuits they wish to take part in. I would argue that if Norwich
City Council make skating a criminal offence, they are setting a terrible precedent
of anti-enjoyment; one which suggests that harmlessly pursuing a hobby is a ‘nuisance’
to society as a whole. In fact, the majority of times I’ve come into contact
with skaters on the street, they have politely allowed people to pass to ensure
it is safe before they continue, and so as to not impact other people’s days.

So to sum up, Norwich City Council: by making skateboarding
a criminal offence, you devalue enjoyment in our society, when compared with
the well-being of a few rails.

My own take on a real ballot paper. (You can find it full-size on the Facebook page)

Turnout in May 2014 local council elections: 35.7%

Turnout in London Mayoral elections 2012: 31.0%

Turnout in UK Parliamentary elections 2010: 65.1%

(Courtesy of electoralcommission.org)

Turnout in 2013 Australian general election: 93.23% (usually
fluctuates between 96% and 93%)

And yet they call us a ‘representative democracy’. From the
figures we see above, the government is currently only representative of 65.1%
of the public (I personally believe it’s representative of 0% of the public,
considering no one voted for a coalition, but that’s another blog…), with local
councils being even worse. However this is not wholly their fault, in fact the
worst part is it’s technically the fault of the public – officials in power
simply capitalise on whatever support they get, and take it as their
sovereignty.

It is unfair to compare turnout rates in the UK to turnout
rates in Australia, predominantly due to Australia’s system of compulsory
voting; if you don’t vote you are asked to give a reason why, and if the reason
is deemed insufficient you may be fined up to $170 – quite a good way to whip
people into voting. However the most important part of this system of voting is
the inclusion of a ‘none of the above’ option. This gives the public who are
not enticed by any party standing in the election, or those who are adverse to
the concept of sovereign rule completely to express their views without having
to spoil their ballots, protest vote, or simply not turn up.

The inclusion of both compulsory voting and the ‘none of the
above’ option would increase participation in elections in the UK
substantially, and hopefully (as a by-product) increase interest and knowledge
in politics. Most importantly, it would make our democracy that we clutch so
dearly to work slightly better – no longer would people who hadn’t turned out
to vote, yet still insist on critiquing the government because of stories they’ve
heard from the media of which they actually have no idea about, be accused by
people like me of having invalid arguments because they didn’t actually try to
impact the election that put the government they so hate into power in the
first place. (Of course, people like me would still accuse them of having
little knowledge of the things they are pretending to be experts in, thus their
arguments remain invalid, but hopefully having compulsory voting might entice
people to actually take an active interest in politics). And governments might
actually be able to call themselves sovereign, or accountable, due to the
almost total participation of everyone making a decision on what they want.

However, I would take the ‘none of the above’ option
slightly further, and treat it as if it were an actual candidate. If the option
has the most support in a constituency (in a general election), that
constituency would be subject to another election, until a winner other than ‘none
of the above’ was found. Hopefully, this would help parties to make better
policy and actually try to win people’s opinion with substantiated manifestos,
while actually interesting people in politics slightly more; I’m quite certain
people would not enjoy continuous compulsory elections due to a consistent ‘none
of the above’ victory, so rather than paddling in disillusionment, maybe the
public would take an interest – alongside the changing of party policy to
better represent their wants and needs, people may actually start to vote
rationally.

Of course, this view is very idealistic, and I’m sure in
practice there would be far more difficulties in implementing it, or people
simply wouldn’t behave in the way I would hope for them to in my head (the
beauty of political science is you never can really precisely predict an outcome,
and the beauty of that is that no one can ever tell you that your prediction is
wrong (until it happens) because, without it actually happening there is no
perfect precedent to go on), however in my opinion it would be a step towards a
more representative government within our representative democracy, as well as
a step towards educating the public on politics and the issues surrounding it.

(Note: If people do not become more interested in politics and actually become knowledgeable in it, I personally would love to see an
authoritarian society where power doesn’t corrupt the leaders and they do
everything in the interest of the people (due to the irrationality of so many
voters who don’t know enough about politics and issues facing our country to
really make a useful input (the problem with politics is everyone seems to have
an opinion however ill informed), however that view is far too controversial,
idealistic and near impossible, thus I’ll happily settle for the ‘none of the
above’ and compulsory voting option…)(Note again: I asked Richard Harrington (MP for Watford) what his views were on 'none of the above' and he stated that he agreed with it completely, as the participation of everyone in politics is utterly vital (or words to that effect.))